Roy Offers up 'New Law of Journalism'

There is a 'new law of journalism', according to a regular writer on the Scottish press.

Under the heading, 'Whatever happened to the newspaper as a nation talking to itself?' Kenneth Roy, in his own website, the Scottish Review, writes: “But is it what readers want? The first paradox of the trade – the new law of journalism – is that heavy means light; more means less. But here's another: the relentless move towards bigger newspapers full of loose opinions and celebrity-driven piffle has been accompanied by a calamitous fall in circulations. Surprise surprise, the death of news in newspapers has not produced their hoped-for revival.”

And he later adds: “One of the few encouraging signs in the Scottish media is the recent creation of a small community of online papers – the Caledonian Mercury, Newsnet Scotland, Bella Caledonia, SR itself. If the outmoded rivalries of the trade are put aside, and these papers act in a co-operative spirit, the online press can become an alternative force for good. But it will be a long time, if ever, before online titles take the place of the old-fashioned newspaper in the popular affection.”